ProjectSolid-state flow as a novel approach for the fabrication of photonic devices

Researcher (PI)Fabien Sorin

Host Institution (HI)ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), PE5, ERC-2015-STG

SummaryThe development of advanced photon-based technologies offers exciting promises in fields of crucial importance for the development of sustainable societies such as energy and food management, security and health care. Innovative photonic devices will however reveal their true potential if we can deploy their functionalities not only on rigid wafers, but also over large-area, flexible and stretchable substrates. Indeed, providing energy harvesting, sensing, or stimulating abilities over windows, screens, food packages, wearable textiles, or even biological tissues will be invaluable technological breakthroughs. Today, however, conventional fabrication approaches remain difficult to scale to large area, and are not well adapted to the mechanical and topological requirements of non-rigid and curved substrates. In FLOWTONICS, we propose innovative materials processing approaches and device architectures to enable the simple and scalable fabrication of nano-structured photonic systems compatible with flexible and stretchable substrates. Our strategy is to direct the flow of optical materials through an innovative and thus far unexplored exploitation of the solid-state dewetting and thermal drawing processes. Our objectives are three-fold: (1) Study and demonstrate, for the first time, the strong potential of the dewetting of chalcogenide glasses layers for the fabrication of large area photonic devices; (2) Show that dewetting can also be exploited to realize photonic architectures onto engineered, nano-imprinted flexible and stretchable polymer substrates; (3) Demonstrate, for the first time, the use of the thermal drawing process as a novel tool to realize advanced flexible and stretchable photonic ribbons and fibers. These novel approaches can contribute to game-changing scientific and technological advances for the sustainable management of our resources and to meet our growing health care needs, putting Europe at the forefront of innovation in these crucial areas.

The development of advanced photon-based technologies offers exciting promises in fields of crucial importance for the development of sustainable societies such as energy and food management, security and health care. Innovative photonic devices will however reveal their true potential if we can deploy their functionalities not only on rigid wafers, but also over large-area, flexible and stretchable substrates. Indeed, providing energy harvesting, sensing, or stimulating abilities over windows, screens, food packages, wearable textiles, or even biological tissues will be invaluable technological breakthroughs. Today, however, conventional fabrication approaches remain difficult to scale to large area, and are not well adapted to the mechanical and topological requirements of non-rigid and curved substrates. In FLOWTONICS, we propose innovative materials processing approaches and device architectures to enable the simple and scalable fabrication of nano-structured photonic systems compatible with flexible and stretchable substrates. Our strategy is to direct the flow of optical materials through an innovative and thus far unexplored exploitation of the solid-state dewetting and thermal drawing processes. Our objectives are three-fold: (1) Study and demonstrate, for the first time, the strong potential of the dewetting of chalcogenide glasses layers for the fabrication of large area photonic devices; (2) Show that dewetting can also be exploited to realize photonic architectures onto engineered, nano-imprinted flexible and stretchable polymer substrates; (3) Demonstrate, for the first time, the use of the thermal drawing process as a novel tool to realize advanced flexible and stretchable photonic ribbons and fibers. These novel approaches can contribute to game-changing scientific and technological advances for the sustainable management of our resources and to meet our growing health care needs, putting Europe at the forefront of innovation in these crucial areas.

Max ERC Funding

1 499 585 €

Duration

Start date: 2016-02-01, End date: 2021-01-31

Project acronymFOUNDLAW

ProjectReinventing the Foundations
of European Legal Culture 1934-1964

Researcher (PI)Kaius Tapani Tuori

Host Institution (HI)HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2012-StG_20111124

SummaryIt is often claimed in the rights and culture debate that certain rights are a reflection of a European culture and tradition and thus not universal. What this study demonstrates is that even in Europe the rights tradition is a conscious construction by a group of legal scholars reacting to contemporary events.
This study is about a group of innovators who are forced to reinvent themselves and their science abroad after being exiled by Nazi Germany. This reinvention meant that they had to first rethink all that they had previously done and then to address a new audience in a new language, simultaneously trying to make sense of the catastrophe. In response, they created a theory a common European legal culture, founded on ideals of the rule of law. A reaction to the nationalistic totalitarian regimes, they sought to show a great tradition based on liberty and justice.
What this study offers is a twist, in that the reinvention had a second, even more influential life after the war. What the anti-totalitarian narrative formed by the exiles offered to the academic community was an explanation and a new self-understanding of law and legal science as a bulwark against dictatorship, enabling them to respond to the challenge of socialism.
Combining archival research, bibliometrical studies and social analysis, the project will study the creation of the rights theory through the intellectual histories of five key figures. Studying correspondence, lecture notes, and published materials on how the idea of a common European legal past was formulated, discussed and disseminated, the project contests the claims of current research that the rights tradition was an accepted historical fact. The starting point of the study, 1934, is the first response to the Nazi takeover and the expelling of civil servants of Jewish ancestry, while the end point, 1964, includes the reaction to the Berlin Wall and the consolidation of the hostilities between East and West in Europe.

It is often claimed in the rights and culture debate that certain rights are a reflection of a European culture and tradition and thus not universal. What this study demonstrates is that even in Europe the rights tradition is a conscious construction by a group of legal scholars reacting to contemporary events.
This study is about a group of innovators who are forced to reinvent themselves and their science abroad after being exiled by Nazi Germany. This reinvention meant that they had to first rethink all that they had previously done and then to address a new audience in a new language, simultaneously trying to make sense of the catastrophe. In response, they created a theory a common European legal culture, founded on ideals of the rule of law. A reaction to the nationalistic totalitarian regimes, they sought to show a great tradition based on liberty and justice.
What this study offers is a twist, in that the reinvention had a second, even more influential life after the war. What the anti-totalitarian narrative formed by the exiles offered to the academic community was an explanation and a new self-understanding of law and legal science as a bulwark against dictatorship, enabling them to respond to the challenge of socialism.
Combining archival research, bibliometrical studies and social analysis, the project will study the creation of the rights theory through the intellectual histories of five key figures. Studying correspondence, lecture notes, and published materials on how the idea of a common European legal past was formulated, discussed and disseminated, the project contests the claims of current research that the rights tradition was an accepted historical fact. The starting point of the study, 1934, is the first response to the Nazi takeover and the expelling of civil servants of Jewish ancestry, while the end point, 1964, includes the reaction to the Berlin Wall and the consolidation of the hostilities between East and West in Europe.

Max ERC Funding

1 476 429 €

Duration

Start date: 2013-03-01, End date: 2018-02-28

Project acronymFUNCTIONALDYNA

ProjectInvestigating Functional Dynamics in Proteins by Novel Multidimensional Optical Spectroscopies in the Ultraviolet

Researcher (PI)Andrea Cannizzo

Host Institution (HI)UNIVERSITAET BERN

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), PE4, ERC-2011-StG_20101014

SummaryProteins perform their biological function following specific sequences of events. During these dynamical paths, highly non-trivial cooperative interactions occur. Ultimately, this is the origin of the emerging collective behavior that makes proteins the most sophisticated existing molecular machines. This complex network of processes covers a wide range of timescales, from few fs to ms, and distances, from atoms to large protein domains.
Even the most recent experimental techniques generally provide ns-to-us averaged structural and dynamical information, often in non-physiological conditions. To access simultaneously atomic time and length scales would unveil the elementary conformational steps constituting a functional event and their temporal evolution.
I propose to extend emerging multidimensional ultrafast optical spectroscopic techniques to the deep ultraviolet. These techniques are the analogue of multidimensional Nuclear Magnetic Resonance methods and are able to provide structural information exploiting electric dipole couplings but with fs temporal resolution. The novel extension to ultraviolet, that I shall implement, will open the possibility to exploit the optical absorption of aromatic amino-acid residues with the great advantage of studying wild type proteins. In this way, all drawbacks due to artificial labeling will be ruled out. I will use this new technique to study dynamic-assisted long range electron transfer in copper proteins and enzyme regulation in hemoglobin. These two proteins of great importance from a biological point of view have been chosen because their functions are a clear manifestation of cooperative phenomena. On a long term prospective this methodology will be a universal tool applicable to any wild type protein containing aromatic amino acids.

Proteins perform their biological function following specific sequences of events. During these dynamical paths, highly non-trivial cooperative interactions occur. Ultimately, this is the origin of the emerging collective behavior that makes proteins the most sophisticated existing molecular machines. This complex network of processes covers a wide range of timescales, from few fs to ms, and distances, from atoms to large protein domains.
Even the most recent experimental techniques generally provide ns-to-us averaged structural and dynamical information, often in non-physiological conditions. To access simultaneously atomic time and length scales would unveil the elementary conformational steps constituting a functional event and their temporal evolution.
I propose to extend emerging multidimensional ultrafast optical spectroscopic techniques to the deep ultraviolet. These techniques are the analogue of multidimensional Nuclear Magnetic Resonance methods and are able to provide structural information exploiting electric dipole couplings but with fs temporal resolution. The novel extension to ultraviolet, that I shall implement, will open the possibility to exploit the optical absorption of aromatic amino-acid residues with the great advantage of studying wild type proteins. In this way, all drawbacks due to artificial labeling will be ruled out. I will use this new technique to study dynamic-assisted long range electron transfer in copper proteins and enzyme regulation in hemoglobin. These two proteins of great importance from a biological point of view have been chosen because their functions are a clear manifestation of cooperative phenomena. On a long term prospective this methodology will be a universal tool applicable to any wild type protein containing aromatic amino acids.

SummaryUsing recent progress in laser technology and in particular in the field of ultra-fast lasers, we are getting close to accomplish the alchemist dream of transforming materials. Compact lasers can generate pulses with ultra-high peak powers in the Tera-Watt or even Peta-Watt ranges. These high-power pulses lead to a radically different laser-matter interaction than the one obtained with conventional lasers. Non-linear multi-photons processes are observed; they open new and exciting opportunities to tailor the matter in its intimate structure with sub-wavelength spatial resolutions and in the three dimensions.
This project is aiming at exploring the use of these ultrafast lasers to locally tailor the physical properties of glass materials. More specifically, our objective is to create polymorphs embedded in bulk structures and to demonstrate their use as means to introduce new functionalities in the material.
The long-term objective is to develop the scientific understanding and technological know-how to create three-dimensional objects with nanoscale features where optics, fluidics and micromechanical elements as well as active functions are integrated in a single monolithic piece of glass and to do so using a single process.
This is a multidisciplinary research that pushes the frontier of our current knowledge of femtosecond laser interaction with glass to demonstrate a novel design platform for future micro-/nano- systems.

Using recent progress in laser technology and in particular in the field of ultra-fast lasers, we are getting close to accomplish the alchemist dream of transforming materials. Compact lasers can generate pulses with ultra-high peak powers in the Tera-Watt or even Peta-Watt ranges. These high-power pulses lead to a radically different laser-matter interaction than the one obtained with conventional lasers. Non-linear multi-photons processes are observed; they open new and exciting opportunities to tailor the matter in its intimate structure with sub-wavelength spatial resolutions and in the three dimensions.
This project is aiming at exploring the use of these ultrafast lasers to locally tailor the physical properties of glass materials. More specifically, our objective is to create polymorphs embedded in bulk structures and to demonstrate their use as means to introduce new functionalities in the material.
The long-term objective is to develop the scientific understanding and technological know-how to create three-dimensional objects with nanoscale features where optics, fluidics and micromechanical elements as well as active functions are integrated in a single monolithic piece of glass and to do so using a single process.
This is a multidisciplinary research that pushes the frontier of our current knowledge of femtosecond laser interaction with glass to demonstrate a novel design platform for future micro-/nano- systems.

Max ERC Funding

1 757 396 €

Duration

Start date: 2012-12-01, End date: 2017-11-30

Project acronymGEDA

ProjectGlobal Environmental Decision Analysis

Researcher (PI)Atte Jaakko Moilanen

Host Institution (HI)HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), LS8, ERC-2010-StG_20091118

SummaryHabitat degradation and climate change are generally considered the greatest threats to biodiversity globally. Together, these processes pose an urgent challenge to conservation science, requiring ever increasing efficiency in ecologically-based decision making, to slow down, and hopefully eventually reverse, the ongoing global loss of biodiversity. In responding to this challenge, I am proposing a project in which the over-arching goal is to provide improved conservation-oriented analytical methods and tools to underpin knowledge-based land-use planning and associated political decision making. The proposed work builds on a broad established history of research in the field of spatial ecology and conservation prioritization.
Specific components of the proposal include: (i) developing the general conceptual, ecological, methodological and statistical basis of environmental and conservation resource allocation: (ii) combining species and community-level prioritization approaches for data-poor areas of the world; (iii) developing methods for alleviating the negative ecological consequences of climate change, based on connectivity both in geographic and environmental space; (iv) developing an uncertainty-analytic method for the planning of habitat restoration and calculation of compensation ratios for habitat that will be impacted due to economic activity, (v) developing methods for allocating alternative conservation actions (protection, maintenance, restoration) in combination with habitat-specific loss rates in spatial conservation prioritization, and (vi) implementing the proposed methods as publicly available, efficient and well-documented software packages. Particular emphasis will be placed on solving the algorithmic challenges involved in analyzing the large data sets that are becoming increasingly available as the distributions of environmental conditions and biodiversity features are derived from large-scale high-resolution remote-sensing data.

Habitat degradation and climate change are generally considered the greatest threats to biodiversity globally. Together, these processes pose an urgent challenge to conservation science, requiring ever increasing efficiency in ecologically-based decision making, to slow down, and hopefully eventually reverse, the ongoing global loss of biodiversity. In responding to this challenge, I am proposing a project in which the over-arching goal is to provide improved conservation-oriented analytical methods and tools to underpin knowledge-based land-use planning and associated political decision making. The proposed work builds on a broad established history of research in the field of spatial ecology and conservation prioritization.
Specific components of the proposal include: (i) developing the general conceptual, ecological, methodological and statistical basis of environmental and conservation resource allocation: (ii) combining species and community-level prioritization approaches for data-poor areas of the world; (iii) developing methods for alleviating the negative ecological consequences of climate change, based on connectivity both in geographic and environmental space; (iv) developing an uncertainty-analytic method for the planning of habitat restoration and calculation of compensation ratios for habitat that will be impacted due to economic activity, (v) developing methods for allocating alternative conservation actions (protection, maintenance, restoration) in combination with habitat-specific loss rates in spatial conservation prioritization, and (vi) implementing the proposed methods as publicly available, efficient and well-documented software packages. Particular emphasis will be placed on solving the algorithmic challenges involved in analyzing the large data sets that are becoming increasingly available as the distributions of environmental conditions and biodiversity features are derived from large-scale high-resolution remote-sensing data.

Max ERC Funding

1 495 213 €

Duration

Start date: 2011-01-01, End date: 2015-12-31

Project acronymGLOBESCAPE

ProjectEnabling transformation: Linking design and land system science to foster place-making in peri-urban landscapes under increasing globalization

Researcher (PI)Adrienne GRÊT-REGAMEY

Host Institution (HI)EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2017-STG

SummaryUnprecedented urbanization is threatening landscape diversity, bringing along new social and environmental problems. Standardized business centers, single family residential areas and shopping malls displace highly productive agricultural land, while the culture and lifestyles of local communities become absorbed into the sphere of globalization. This dramatic uniformisation is nurtured by the ever increasing global human migration. People are losing their sense of place and their motivation to initiate change. Uniformed international landscapes start dominating peri-urban areas. The result is a tremendous increase in fragility of these new landscapes of the twenty-first century, calling for an active and creative landscape shaping process to secure the long-term provision of critical ecosystem services. Up until now, however, models and tools developed in land system science have not caught up with the needs to understand and ultimately foster humans’ capacities to shape their landscapes.
This project will contribute to a next generation of tools and methods to foster the development of resilient landscapes. I suggest linking design and probabilistic modeling in a collaborative landscape development tool to enable the transformation of spaces into places. This unconventional approach is necessary to deal with the probabilistic nature of landscapes. Landscapes can only be defined by including the observer – a concept severally neglected in today’s research efforts. Anchored in four peri-urban case studies, the interdisciplinary experimental and modeling work will have impact far beyond predicting transformation pathways of peri-urban landscapes under increased globalization. The resulting methods and tool will redefine the status quo of current geodesign tools, promote novel ways of deliberative decision-making and governance, and ultimately support humans to intentionally transform peri-urban landscapes.

Unprecedented urbanization is threatening landscape diversity, bringing along new social and environmental problems. Standardized business centers, single family residential areas and shopping malls displace highly productive agricultural land, while the culture and lifestyles of local communities become absorbed into the sphere of globalization. This dramatic uniformisation is nurtured by the ever increasing global human migration. People are losing their sense of place and their motivation to initiate change. Uniformed international landscapes start dominating peri-urban areas. The result is a tremendous increase in fragility of these new landscapes of the twenty-first century, calling for an active and creative landscape shaping process to secure the long-term provision of critical ecosystem services. Up until now, however, models and tools developed in land system science have not caught up with the needs to understand and ultimately foster humans’ capacities to shape their landscapes.
This project will contribute to a next generation of tools and methods to foster the development of resilient landscapes. I suggest linking design and probabilistic modeling in a collaborative landscape development tool to enable the transformation of spaces into places. This unconventional approach is necessary to deal with the probabilistic nature of landscapes. Landscapes can only be defined by including the observer – a concept severally neglected in today’s research efforts. Anchored in four peri-urban case studies, the interdisciplinary experimental and modeling work will have impact far beyond predicting transformation pathways of peri-urban landscapes under increased globalization. The resulting methods and tool will redefine the status quo of current geodesign tools, promote novel ways of deliberative decision-making and governance, and ultimately support humans to intentionally transform peri-urban landscapes.

Max ERC Funding

1 498 106 €

Duration

Start date: 2018-06-01, End date: 2023-05-31

Project acronymGRIEVANCES

ProjectThe Economics of Grievances and Ethnic Conflicts

Researcher (PI)Mathias Thoenig

Host Institution (HI)UNIVERSITE DE LAUSANNE

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), SH1, ERC-2012-StG_20111124

Summary"I analyze theoretically and empirically the role played by grievances and hostile beliefs in ethnic conflicts. I study the interaction between economic incentives, endogenous salience of ethnic identities, belief dynamics and conflicts. In particular I analyze the formation of oppositional ethnic identities, which correspond to group-specific systems of beliefs leading to distrust and use of violence. Those issues are at the intersection of the literatures on the economics of conflicts and the economics of social identity. They involve both micro- and macro- aspects. I provide an applied theory framework to articulate the analysis and I perform both experimental and empirical investigations to test the main theoretical predictions.
The project is ambitious but realistic. It has the potential for important contributions to the current literature: the topic is important, original and unexplored using formal and quantitative methods. My methodological approach encompasses state-of-the-art theory and thought-provocative empirical strategies. The approach is grounded in quantitative economics. However the proposal draws many insights from other disciplines in the social and biological sciences.
This proposal is a revised version of my research project which was selected for the second step of the previous ERC 2011 call."

"I analyze theoretically and empirically the role played by grievances and hostile beliefs in ethnic conflicts. I study the interaction between economic incentives, endogenous salience of ethnic identities, belief dynamics and conflicts. In particular I analyze the formation of oppositional ethnic identities, which correspond to group-specific systems of beliefs leading to distrust and use of violence. Those issues are at the intersection of the literatures on the economics of conflicts and the economics of social identity. They involve both micro- and macro- aspects. I provide an applied theory framework to articulate the analysis and I perform both experimental and empirical investigations to test the main theoretical predictions.
The project is ambitious but realistic. It has the potential for important contributions to the current literature: the topic is important, original and unexplored using formal and quantitative methods. My methodological approach encompasses state-of-the-art theory and thought-provocative empirical strategies. The approach is grounded in quantitative economics. However the proposal draws many insights from other disciplines in the social and biological sciences.
This proposal is a revised version of my research project which was selected for the second step of the previous ERC 2011 call."

Max ERC Funding

1 031 370 €

Duration

Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2017-12-31

Project acronymHBMAP

ProjectDecoding, Mapping and Designing the Structural Complexity of Hydrogen-Bond Networks: from Water to Proteins to Polymers

Researcher (PI)Michele Ceriotti

Host Institution (HI)ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), PE4, ERC-2015-STG

SummaryHydrogen bonds are ubiquitous and fundamental in nature, underpinning the behavior of systems as different as water, proteins and polymers. Much of this flexibility derives from their propensity to form complex topological networks, which can be strong enough to hold Kevlar together, or sufficiently labile to enable reversible structural transitions in allosteric proteins.
Simulations must treat the quantum nature of both electrons and protons to describe accurately the microscopic structure of H-bonded materials, but this wealth of data does not necessarily translate into deep physical understanding. Even the structure of a compound as essential as water is still the subject of intense debate, despite extensive investigations. Identifying recurring bonding patterns is essential to comprehend and manipulate the structural and dynamical properties of H-bonded systems.
Our objective is to develop and apply machine-learning techniques to atomistic simulations, and identify the design principles that govern the structure and properties of H-bonded compounds. Our strategy rests on three efforts: (1) recognition of recurring structural motifs with probabilistic data analysis; (2) coarse-grained mapping of the energetically accessible structural landscape by non-linear dimensionality reduction techniques; (3) acceleration of configuration sampling using these data-driven collective variables.
Identifying motifs and order parameters will be crucial to interpret simulations and experiments of growing complexity, and will enable computational design of H-bond networks. We will focus first on two objectives. (1) Rationalizing the structure of crystalline, amorphous and liquid water across its phase diagram, from ambient to astrophysical conditions, and its response to solutes, interfaces or confinement. (2) Enabling efficient simulation and structural design of polymers and proteins in non-biological contexts, targeting biomimetic materials and organic/inorganic interfaces.

Hydrogen bonds are ubiquitous and fundamental in nature, underpinning the behavior of systems as different as water, proteins and polymers. Much of this flexibility derives from their propensity to form complex topological networks, which can be strong enough to hold Kevlar together, or sufficiently labile to enable reversible structural transitions in allosteric proteins.
Simulations must treat the quantum nature of both electrons and protons to describe accurately the microscopic structure of H-bonded materials, but this wealth of data does not necessarily translate into deep physical understanding. Even the structure of a compound as essential as water is still the subject of intense debate, despite extensive investigations. Identifying recurring bonding patterns is essential to comprehend and manipulate the structural and dynamical properties of H-bonded systems.
Our objective is to develop and apply machine-learning techniques to atomistic simulations, and identify the design principles that govern the structure and properties of H-bonded compounds. Our strategy rests on three efforts: (1) recognition of recurring structural motifs with probabilistic data analysis; (2) coarse-grained mapping of the energetically accessible structural landscape by non-linear dimensionality reduction techniques; (3) acceleration of configuration sampling using these data-driven collective variables.
Identifying motifs and order parameters will be crucial to interpret simulations and experiments of growing complexity, and will enable computational design of H-bond networks. We will focus first on two objectives. (1) Rationalizing the structure of crystalline, amorphous and liquid water across its phase diagram, from ambient to astrophysical conditions, and its response to solutes, interfaces or confinement. (2) Enabling efficient simulation and structural design of polymers and proteins in non-biological contexts, targeting biomimetic materials and organic/inorganic interfaces.

SummaryIn this proposal, we introduce two new families of probes for live-cell super-resolution microscopy. The first class comprises small-molecule fluorescent sensors for detecting short-lived, small signaling molecules and active enzymes with single-molecule resolution. The spatiotemporal confinement of biological reactive molecules has been hypothesized to regulate various pathological and physiological processes, but the lack of tools to observe directly these microdomains of biochemical activity has precluded the investigation of these mechanisms. The ability to detect small signaling agents and active enzymes with nanometric resolution in intact live specimens will allow us to study the role of compartmentalization in intracellular signaling at an unprecedented resolution. Our studies will focus on detecting elusive reactive oxygen and nitrogen species directly at their sites of endogenous production. We will also investigate the subcellular distribution of protease activity, focusing on its role in non-apoptotic signaling.
The second class of probes encompasses a palette of fluorescent dyes that switch continuously between dark and emissive forms. This dynamic equilibrium will enable the localization of single molecules in a densely labeled field without the need to apply toxic light for photoactivation. Based on a novel switching mechanism, we will prepare dyes of various emission wavelengths that blink in a controlled way. These dyes will allow us to perform, for the first time, super-resolution, multicolor, time-lapse imaging of live specimens over long time. Initial studies will focus on tracking a transcription factor that migrates from the endoplasmic reticulum to the nucleus to initiate a cellular stress response upon protein misfolding. These studies will provide spatiotemporal details of this important translocation, which takes more than one hour to occur and its observation at the single-molecule level is intractable with current super-resolution methods

In this proposal, we introduce two new families of probes for live-cell super-resolution microscopy. The first class comprises small-molecule fluorescent sensors for detecting short-lived, small signaling molecules and active enzymes with single-molecule resolution. The spatiotemporal confinement of biological reactive molecules has been hypothesized to regulate various pathological and physiological processes, but the lack of tools to observe directly these microdomains of biochemical activity has precluded the investigation of these mechanisms. The ability to detect small signaling agents and active enzymes with nanometric resolution in intact live specimens will allow us to study the role of compartmentalization in intracellular signaling at an unprecedented resolution. Our studies will focus on detecting elusive reactive oxygen and nitrogen species directly at their sites of endogenous production. We will also investigate the subcellular distribution of protease activity, focusing on its role in non-apoptotic signaling.
The second class of probes encompasses a palette of fluorescent dyes that switch continuously between dark and emissive forms. This dynamic equilibrium will enable the localization of single molecules in a densely labeled field without the need to apply toxic light for photoactivation. Based on a novel switching mechanism, we will prepare dyes of various emission wavelengths that blink in a controlled way. These dyes will allow us to perform, for the first time, super-resolution, multicolor, time-lapse imaging of live specimens over long time. Initial studies will focus on tracking a transcription factor that migrates from the endoplasmic reticulum to the nucleus to initiate a cellular stress response upon protein misfolding. These studies will provide spatiotemporal details of this important translocation, which takes more than one hour to occur and its observation at the single-molecule level is intractable with current super-resolution methods

Max ERC Funding

1 498 125 €

Duration

Start date: 2019-10-01, End date: 2024-09-30

Project acronymHEINE

ProjectHybrid Electrocatalysts Inspired by the Nitrogenase Enzyme

Researcher (PI)Victor MOUGEL

Host Institution (HI)EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZUERICH

Call DetailsStarting Grant (StG), PE5, ERC-2019-STG

SummaryArtificial nitrogen reduction to ammonia using the Haber-Bosch process directly supports half of the global food production and accounts for 2% of the global energy consumption. This large consumption of energy originates mostly from the use of H2 (derived from fossil fuels) as a reductant and from the high pressure and temperature required to undertake the Haber-Bosch process.
Electrochemical synthesis of ammonia, using a proton and electron source combined with an electrocatalyst at room temperature to reduce N2, thus presents an appealing, energy-efficient alternative. However, despite years of research, the few currently available catalysts have very limited efficiency in N2 electroreduction.
Drawing inspiration from biochemistry and using the tools of coordination chemistry, catalysis and surface chemistry, this project will explore an original strategy to develop catalysts for the reduction of N2 inspired by the nitrogenase enzyme.
Motivated by the recent discovery of two unique moieties in the nitrogenase cofactor – the presence of a µ6-carbide moiety and a Mo(III) center – and of the increased understanding of substrate pathways in the nitrogenase protein structure, the goal of HEINE is to design new hybrid catalysts based on the immobilisation of accurate mimics of the nitrogenase active sites onto heterogeneous supports used to generate properties analogous of the protein scaffold (hydrophobicity, proton relays, etc.). This will provide us with novel ways to develop functional electrocatalysts for N2 reduction in ambient conditions, combining the activity of traditional solid-state systems, with the selectivity of molecular catalysts.
By identifying and reproducing the parameters responsible for the unique activity of nitrogenase enzymes, HEINE will yield invaluable information on nature’s routes to N2 reduction and will pave the way towards a new generation of electrocatalysts able to promote this reaction.

Artificial nitrogen reduction to ammonia using the Haber-Bosch process directly supports half of the global food production and accounts for 2% of the global energy consumption. This large consumption of energy originates mostly from the use of H2 (derived from fossil fuels) as a reductant and from the high pressure and temperature required to undertake the Haber-Bosch process.
Electrochemical synthesis of ammonia, using a proton and electron source combined with an electrocatalyst at room temperature to reduce N2, thus presents an appealing, energy-efficient alternative. However, despite years of research, the few currently available catalysts have very limited efficiency in N2 electroreduction.
Drawing inspiration from biochemistry and using the tools of coordination chemistry, catalysis and surface chemistry, this project will explore an original strategy to develop catalysts for the reduction of N2 inspired by the nitrogenase enzyme.
Motivated by the recent discovery of two unique moieties in the nitrogenase cofactor – the presence of a µ6-carbide moiety and a Mo(III) center – and of the increased understanding of substrate pathways in the nitrogenase protein structure, the goal of HEINE is to design new hybrid catalysts based on the immobilisation of accurate mimics of the nitrogenase active sites onto heterogeneous supports used to generate properties analogous of the protein scaffold (hydrophobicity, proton relays, etc.). This will provide us with novel ways to develop functional electrocatalysts for N2 reduction in ambient conditions, combining the activity of traditional solid-state systems, with the selectivity of molecular catalysts.
By identifying and reproducing the parameters responsible for the unique activity of nitrogenase enzymes, HEINE will yield invaluable information on nature’s routes to N2 reduction and will pave the way towards a new generation of electrocatalysts able to promote this reaction.